Pokemon: Cinnabar Sunrise
by bricam
Summary: While on a seemingly normal cruise to Cinnabar Island, three friends are about to experience the horror of war first hand.


Ch1

_Ding dong,_ a bell chimed and a pleasant sounding woman's voice came over the speaker system, "Good morning guests of the S.S. Anne. Today we continue our journey to fabulous Cinnabar Island with another fun filled day at sea. At 8, Chef James will open up his omelet bar on the forward deck. At 9, join Mindy and Mike in the gym for their Total Body Workout. For those interested, from 10 until noon we'll have open battles on the rear deck. After lunch there will be a tournament where the winner will receive an all expenses paid trip on this or another ship sometime in the future. If that's not a prize worth fighting for I don't know what is. Finally, join us for some after dinner entertainment when the multi-talented comedian and magician The Awesome Frank puts on his must see show at 8pm in the theater. And for the grown ups, the adults only show starts at 10. As always the staff and crew of the S.S. Anne thank you for choosing to spend your week with us. Thanks and have a great day."

Once the announcements had ended, Clark Morris rolled out of bed and silently cursed the man who had first mixed rum and Coke and introduced the concoction to the rest of the world. What seemed like such a good idea last night, now seemed like the worst idea he'd had since the last time he'd gotten that drunk. But the girls were hot and the drinks were free and the night quickly got out of hand. Slowly he made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself. He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and hoped he didn't look that wrecked last night. That one girl, Kelly, he thought her name was, seemed nice. He was sure going to try to find her again. Maybe this trip his friend talked him into going on wouldn't be so lame after all. Who knows? Maybe once they get back to Vermillion he and Kelly could see how things go on dry land.

But that was in the future. As for the here and now, Clark's only concern was making the jackhammer in his head stop pounding and the hurricane in his stomach stop swirling. A fast shower and teeth brushing helped him feel a bit more human and a bit less walking dead. One of those omelets that speaker lady had mentioned would also help tremendously. He quickly dressed amazed that he could do anything quick after how he felt mere minuets before. An elevator took him from his cabin on one of the lower decks (not quite steerage but pretty close) to the top floor. When it arrived, he stepped out of the elevator, turned down the hall, and stepped out the door to the forward deck. The sun was bright and hurt his eyes so he put on his sunglasses and only prayed for death a little bit.

He saw his two buddies, Jason and Kyle sitting at a table under a parasail. They both looked how he felt. It made him feel better that he wasn't alone in that regard. He pulled up a chair next to his friends and nodded 'hello', nothing more needed to be said that morning. They sat in silence for a few moments more before the waitress came up to take their orders.

"Good mornin' y'all!' She said with more pep in her voice than the three men she spoke to had combined. 'What can I get y'all to drink?"

"Coffee. Black." Jason grunted. He had always been a man of few words choosing to use them as if he had to pay for each one. It wasn't that he wasn't intelligent; he just preferred to not speak as much as others.

"I'll have a coffee as well. And if you could be so kind as to make sure it has cream and two sugars, I'd be most grateful." Kyle, on the other hand, was quite the chatterbox. Even hung over he liked to hear himself speak and would use as many words as possible to get his point across.

Clark, as with most things between the three of them, was somewhere in the middle. It's probably what made them all such good friends. They seemed to balance each other out. He said, "I'll have a glass of half orange juice, half Sprite. Thank you."

The waitress smiled as she wrote down their orders and said, "Ok, I'll have that out to y'all quick, fast, and in a hurry." And with that she left to go put the orders in.

As soon as she had left Kyle said, "My God! Could she have talked anymore? I mean really! That lady just wouldn't shut up. And that accent! Sounds like she's from the deep south of the Shino region."

Clark rolled his eyes and said, "Kyle, don't be a dick. She was nice and kinda cute. And a lot of people find that accent sexy."

It was Kyle's turn to roll his eyes this time, "Please, if I had to hear one more 'y'all' or one of those hillbilly expressions, I would have literally ripped off my ears and thrown them overboard."

Jason spent a couple of his daily allotment of words when he said, "Drama queen."

Clark's thought was cut off by a layer of fog that suddenly started to engulf the deck. It seemed to be coming from the far end of the deck, next to the changing rooms. The fog was really thick there but Clark could start to make out two figures as the stepped forward. The two men were wearing matching white uniforms with black hats. Clark thought they were waiters until one began to speak.

"To protect the world from devastation," the first man said.

"To unite all peoples within our nation," the second man continued.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love," the first spoke again.

"To extend our reach to the stars above," said the second.

"George," the first introduced himself.

"Nelson," as did the second.

Then they spoke at the same time, "Team Rocket blast of at the speed of light! Surrender now or prepare to fight!" A Pokémon then appeared at their feet and hissed, "Ratticate!"

Clark went from confused, to amused, to annoyed, once he quickly figured out that these fellows had to be paid actors. Team Rocket hadn't existed since the late 90s, early 2000s when their organization was broken up by some kid. He remembered seeing the whole ordeal on the news. Clark didn't remember all the details, but he recalled there was a big scandal with them and the Viridian City gym. And the whole thing was blown open by a child on the traditional "Pokémon Adventure" that many kids go on as a pseudo right of passage. He didn't know if that was more impressive for the kid to expose that or more embarrassing for them to get bested by a young boy.

His assumption was confirmed a moment later when the same voice as before came over the PA system, "Oh no! It's the evil Team Rocket! Is there anybody here brave enough to stand up to their nefarious ways?"

A few awkward seconds passed and nobody had moved, the actors, the guests, even the Ratticate, all remained perfectly still.

Then the voice came back on, "Maybe somebody who's having a birthday today?"

Just then a little girl who looked to be around ten or twelve years old shot her hand in the air and yelled, "It's my birthday! I'll do it!"

The crowd started to clap as she ran down to face "Team Rocket". She pointed at the two men and said, "I don't know what you're here for, but you won't get away with it!"

"Just try to stop us," The actor going by George sneered. You could tell his heart wasn't in it. Clark didn't blame him. He probably had to do the same thing and recite the same lines every week for some spoiled brat who's having a birthday on a cruise.

But the little girl didn't notice. To her this was all very real and she was about to be the hero of the ship. "Petunia, I choose you!" she yelled, throwing a pokeball.

An Ivysaur appeared in front of her with a raspy, "Ivysaur."

Without further ado, the girl started the battle, "Petunia, use vine whip!"

"Ivy!" the beast replied then shot two long green vines out of its back by the flower part. They flew through the air towards the Ratticate.

"Ratticate, use agility!" Nelson yelled. He didn't sound excited either.

The Ratticate started sprinting back and fourth between the vines making them all miss.

"Petunia, use Stun Spore!" the girl shouted.

Petunia responded in kind by shaking its flower at the Ratticate, releasing small green spores. As the spores struck the Ratticate, they stuck to its fur and started to slow it down rapidly. More and more spores were released and more and more stuck to the Ratticate. Soon it had slowed to a complete stop and appeared to not be able to move at all.

"Ratticate, use Hyper Fang!" George shouted.

The Ratticate attempted to move but couldn't. It was effectively paralyzed.

"Petunia, use Vine Whip!"

The vines shot out of Petunia's back again. This time there was no avoiding the attack and they struck Ratticate square in the face sending it flying back to the feet of Team Rocket. Ratticate tried to stand again but collapsed.

"Ratticate, return." Nelson said holding out a pokeball. "You may have beat Team Rocket this time, but we'll meet again! We're blasting off!"

With that, there was a poof of smoke and the two men were gone.

The girl's family, as well as other random passengers, started congratulating the girl on her victory. They clapped her on the back and shook her hand. One person even bowed to her.

Clark thought it was all a little over the top. He hadn't seen a Pokémon battle in a while, but he could tell that the Ratticate was way more powerful than Petunia. He assumed that it was a scripted fight, at least on Team Rocket's side. That Ratticate must be very well trained to throw a battle like that.

Kyle was the first to voice his opinion on what had just transpired, "That had to be one of the most contrived, retarded, and sad things I have ever seen. To pander to a little rich kid like that just 'cause it's her birthday? Ridiculous! And did you see that Ratticate? It coulda kicked the Ivysaur's ass in one hit if they were going for real. It makes me sick to see them force it to lose like that. Probably does it a few times a week."

Kyle was a bit of a bleeding heart when it came to Pokémon. His parents ingrained that in him at a young age teaching him to respect the animals and treat them as if they were actual people with feelings. Clark didn't know if he would go that far, but being nice to things that could electrocute, burn, drown, impale, or crush you never struck him as a bad idea.

"Yeah, that was pretty dumb." Clark agreed then left it at that. He didn't want to get into a discussion over Pokémon rights with the hangover he still had. The battle distracted him from it for a few minuets, but now it came roaring back.

"What did you think, Jason?" Kyle asked.

Jason just shrugged, not wanting to debate either. He did say what everybody was thinking, however, when he looked around and asked, "Where's my coffee?"


End file.
